For those of us that came of age during the 1980s, our formative years were spent obsessing over the latest sounds emanating from the outer reaches of the heavy metal music scene and chasing the cheap but undeniable thrill of being scared out of your wits by the latest horror movies and slasher films. Heavy Metal Movies, the new book by Mike “McBeardo” McPadden, ties together the many shared bonds between extreme music and extreme cinema with as much authority as a Slayer riff and more eye-popping graphics than a stack of Iron Maiden LPs. Subtitled Guitar Barbarians, Mutant Bimbos & Cult Zombies Amok in the 666 Most Ear- and Eye-Ripping Big-Scream Films Ever!, the book chronicles the most heavy metal movies of all time, and not just horror films, but rock documentaries, midnight movies and concert films as well. The book is available for preorder now from Bazillion Points here and ship with a limited color cover artwork patch and a barf bag for the weak of heart (and stomach). In celebration of the book’s impending publication, author McPadden has graced us with his picks of the 20 greatest heavy metal movies of all time and tells us why no self-respecting metalhead should be without these flicks in their movie queue or DVD collection. Let’s let Mike take it form here:

“Black Sabbath invented heavy metal. But what, in turn, invented Black Sabbath? That honor belongs to a 1963 fright film starring Boris Karloff—titled, yes, Black Sabbath—from which rock’s darkest, scariest quartet appropriated their name. Thus, heavy metal and movies have forever been two fingers on the same horn-hand salute. So what makes a Heavy Metal Movie? The following 20 films rockingly embody the concept and, indeed, “go to eleven.”- Mike “McBeardo” McPadden

This Is Spinal Tap (1984)This Is Spinal Tap is the one Heavy Metal Movie to which all previous Heavy Metal Movies have led and from which all subsequent Heavy Metal Movies have proceeded. Countless real-life hard rock artists proclaim their devotion to the uncanny, utterly uproarious truths on parade this gut-busting, head-banging mock rock doc supreme—and if you can’t instantly quote one of Tap’s dozens of classic lines, you simply haven’t been rocking hard enough.

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Metallica: Through the Never (2013)
After a decade of suing their own fans, issuing the universally despised St. Anger album and starring in the fascinating, infuriating (rock) group therapy docu-debacle Metallica: Some Kind of Monster, the 3D concert fantasia Metallica: Through the Never proved to be a multi-dimensional leap in the right direction. The band performs fantastically and the apocalyptic storyline is a great surreal throwback to vintage midnight movies. Through the Never pulls off the impossible: it made Metallica cool again.